This invention relates to side guards or rails for beds and, more particularly, to safety bed guards or rails movable between raised and lowered positions and mechanisms for moving the rails between such positions.
Safety bed rails and side guards especially adapted to prevent persons from falling out of bed and to assist persons getting into and out of bed are well-known. Many prior known bed guards are movable between a raised position in which the bed guard is supported at a level above the surface of the bed mattress and a retracted or lowered position in which the bed guard is either moved out of the way toward one end of the bed or lowered to a position below the mattress.
A major problem encountered with such bed guards, and especially in hospitals, nursing homes, or other extended care facilities where such guards are primarily used, is the operation of such guards by persons who are concentrating on or engaged in other activities. Thus, a doctor, nurse, therapist, or other attendant often is carrying other objects to or from the bed at the time the bed guard must be lowered. In such instances, the attendant cannot use both hands to operate the guard mechanism. It is, therefore, desirable to have a guard positioned and designed so as to be operable by the knee of an attending person.
While many types of operating mechanisms have been previously devised for movable bed guards, some of which are operable by the knee of an attending person, such prior guards have been susceptible to pinching or otherwise injuring the extremity of the attending person which is used to operate the lowering or retracting mechanism. Thus, it is necessary to carefully operate such devices to prevent injury.
Further, the beds or bed frames must be radically modified with special fittings in order to mount certain of the prior guards. This severely restricts the use of such guards with various types of beds. It is, therefore, especially desirable to have a compact safety guard unit which may be easily mounted and removed from virtually any bed without the necessity of specially designed structure.